Support NeoGAF

[Rhazer Fusion]

Playstation brand is valuable because of its massively different offering.
That's why everyone wants a Playstation.
That's it. That's the only reason.

But go on, make all western games. Worked wonders for Microsoft.

Sony:

Unfortunately, Sony seems to figured out that most gamers of the world, especially the younger gamers only really want Western games. Look at the sales numbers of most of Sony’s first party games for example. Yeah, I play all types of games and I’ll always prefer Japanese games, but Sony is probably putting what makes them the most money over diversity sadly.

 

[Fredrik]

How big of a deal is this? Isn’t the producer mostly the one holding the wallet?
I assume the director and art team etc are still there.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Well your post seems to be putting too much credit into this so you.

Lol ok

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Ehh sony wtf are you doing you twats

The guy is doing something new, for all we know he could end up doing more ps exusive, switch games or phone games. He could also sell his studio to MS after a little while.

 

[Nezzeroth]

Unfortunately, Sony seems to figured out that most gamers of the world, especially the younger gamers only really want Western games. Look at the sales numbers of most of Sony’s first party games for example. Yeah, I play all types of games and I’ll always prefer Japanese games, but Sony is probably putting what makes them the most money over diversity sadly.

Yeah, Sony doesn't see value in Japanese games. That's why they spent a fortune to have FFVIIR, Project Athia and FFXVI exclusive to their platforms.

Sigh.

 

[T8SC]

i mean, if you're not seeing the constant decline and downsizing of sony japanese output you gotta get your eyes check'd man.
it's clear sony doesn't really care about it and it's investing less and less.
both toyama and toriyama left and all sony japan does is astrobot tech demos.
it's not about "the end of times", it's about the end of what playstation was for some fans
they're making the big bucks with the hollywood games so the average fan won't care but if someone was on playstation for their japanese games they might have to search them elsewhere

Japan is one of Sony's biggest markets, stop being so hyperbolic.

 

[iHaunter]

Can't wait to see the overreactions in this thread.

 

[MaxwellParrish]

Ps4 was a narrow generation in terms of Japan Studios games for a dev that is supposed to be one of the largest in WWS. What did they released, Bloodborne (but coproduced), Gravity Rush2, The Last Guardian and Cronquet Genie?... And seven years of rumors of a new big IP to be announced.
I don't know what to think anymore.

Concrete genie Is from the Californian based team Pixel Opus. Between the games produced by Siej on Ps4 you can find the 2 Knack games, The Last Guardian, Bloodborne , Deracine, The Playroom, Astrobot Rescue Mission, Everybody'Golf and Everybody's Golf VR, No Heroes allowed! VR, Gravity Rush remastered and Gravity Rush 2 + the remake of Shadow of the Colossus and various PsOne and PSP remasters. These while also producing on Vita the 2 Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, Oreshika and Destiny of Spirits

 

[theclaw135]

Concrete genie Is from the Californian based team Pixel Opus. Between the games produced by Siej on Ps4 you can find the 2 Knack games, The Last Guardian, Bloodborne , Deracine, The Playroom, Astrobot Rescue Mission, Everybody'Golf and Everybody's Golf VR, No Heroes allowed! VR, Gravity Rush remastered and Gravity Rush 2 + the remake of Shadow of the Colossus and various PsOne and PSP remasters. These while also producing on Vita the 2 Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, Oreshika and Destiny of Spirits

And the resulting sales reveals everything you need to know about Sony's actions. Except Gran Turismo, their internal Japanese games struggle to move a fraction of units compared to their western studios.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Yeah, Sony doesn't see value in Japanese games. That's why they spent a fortune to have FFVIIR, Project Athia and FFXVI exclusive to their platforms.

Sigh.

Aren’t those third party SquareEnix games timed exclusive though? Didn’t even Microsoft do a similar tactic with next generation Yakuza?

Why not invest some of that money into some internal, first party studios creating original high profile, AAA, big to medium budget Japanese games instead of paying all that money to keep third party games exclusive to your platform temporarily? Imo, I feel if Sony still really saw value in Japanese games, they would do this more often.

 

[Myths]

Ehh sony wtf are you doing you twats

I can’t speak for Sony, but maybe Toriyama is a Radical Dreamer

 

[Nezzeroth]

Aren’t those third party SquareEnix games timed exclusive though? Didn’t even Microsoft do a similar tactic with next generation Yakuza?

Why not invest some of that money into some internal, first party studios creating original high profile, AAA, big to medium budget Japanese games instead of paying all that money to keep third party games exclusive to your platform temporarily? Imo, I feel if Sony still really saw value in Japanese games, they would do this more often.

Because Japan Studio has been a disaster for years. Throwing money at that studio is not going to solve their problems.

 

[Ps5ProFoSho]

Eh, this is probably the last nail in the coffin for me when it comes to Sony console hardware.

I mean rachet and clank will most likely be ace but The rest of Sony's catalog outside of JS is bleak for me, unless I got a surprise ps5 from a relative or friend for Xmas, (lol) I'm not booting a ps5 anytime soon, if ever.

Sony has its audience, I guess the time for experiments is over. Shame.

Yeah Sony is TOTALLY dead. They might as well ask Microsoft to buy them

 

[S73v3]

Yeah Sony is TOTALLY dead. They might as well ask Microsoft to buy them

Their main lineup of games coming from guerilla, ND, monica ect have no apeal to me, one and done games at best.

Buying a ps5 doesn't seem realistic at this point, I was hyped for R&C but I need more, it just doesn't seem feasable atm with the lineup out (I was bored of DeS eons ago) and announced (only r&c looks fun to me) on top of the talent purge @ JS

Oh well.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Because Japan Studio has been a disaster for years. Throwing money at that studio is not going to solve their problems.

I’m talking about new studios from the ground up and even building or investing into some smaller ones. Never know what they can produce with a larger budget and even more talent. Most Japanese developers have amazing talent imo, but it seems they rarely have the budget for more ambitious projects. Look at Naughty Dog now for example. Going from Way of the Warrior to Uncharted and TLOU under Sony’s supervision is a nice improvement for example.

 

[Nezzeroth]

I’m talking about new studios from the ground up and even building or investing into some smaller ones. Never know what they can produce with a larger budget and even more talent. Most Japanese developers have amazing talent imo, but it seems they rarely have the budget for more ambitious projects. Look at Naughty Dog now for example. Going from Way of the Warrior to Uncharted and TLOU under Sony’s supervision is a nice improvement for example.

Having more studios won't fix their problems by itself. Japan Studio is big enough, they should be making more and better games. It makes sense to me to try and fix Japan Studio's problems before opening up more studios which might suffer from the same problems they have now.

They recently made Astro's Playroom director the head of the studio, so hopefully that helps.

 

[cm osi]

Japan is one of Sony's biggest markets, stop being so hyperbolic.

they're clearly cruising on the "japan needs us more than we need them". of course third parties will keep coming out, because playstation is the gateway to the western market for japan.
What i'm talking about is sony japanese production, which has clearly declined.

 

[Jigsaah]

I don't think this is as catastrophic as people are saying.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Teruyuki Toriyama Video Game Credits and Biography - MobyGames

Teruyuki Toriyama has been credited on games developed by the following companies: Game Republic Inc., Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio, FromSoftware, Inc., GAIA Co., Ltd., Level-5 Comcept, Marvelous Inc., Shift Inc., Dimps Corporation and Artoon Co., Ltd.. This does not imply...

www.mobygames.com

Game Credits​

Production​
Déraciné (2018)		(Producers)
Bloodborne (2015)		(Producers)
Soul Sacrifice: Delta (2014)		(Assistant Producers)
Soul Sacrifice (2013)		(Associate Producers)
Design​
Folklore (2007)		(Planners)
Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (2006)		(Director)
Writers​
Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (2006)		(Scenario Coordinator)
Thanks​
Freedom Wars (2014)		(Special Thanks)
echoshift (2010)		(Special Thanks)
Demon's Souls (2009)		(Special Thanks)
Demon's Souls (Deluxe Edition) (2009)		(Special Thanks)

Sounds like he's best known for greenlighting other people's ideas. He's apparently only a "special thanks" on Demon's Souls?

Seems like his most engaged contribution was on this:

Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner

There was a time when mankind and monsters coexisted in peace, but The Great Disaster put an end to that era. The world changed radically, with all the planet’s monsters disappearing in an instant, leaving behind only jewels that radiated tremendous energy. This energy source became known as...

www.metacritic.com

Fuck I wouldn't mind a new Folklore game. What exactly does a planner do? Project management type shit?

 

[BattleScar]

This thread is certified meme-tier.

Absolutely nuclear takes.

 

[peronmls]

How big of a deal is this? Isn’t the producer mostly the one holding the wallet?
I assume the director and art team etc are still there.

To me, I have always thought a Producer simply overseas a project or accepts or rejects the initial proposal for said project. Movie wise. They are not directly involved in it's production.

 

[M1chl]

Looks kind of like Asian Phil Spencer, not that it matters that much.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

This thread is a jump to conclusions, shit on Sony dumpster fire because some middle man left the company.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

What does SONY have to do with someone wanting to leave their company? Maybe guy got sick of working on same shit, maybe he is burned out from all the work hours (its japan we talking about). Guy probably made some bank, maybe wants to retire or work on smaller projects for fun.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Look at Naughty Dog now for example. Going from Way of the Warrior to Uncharted and TLOU under Sony’s supervision is a nice improvement for example.

Are you seriously saying that they are making better games than they were 26years ago? Isnt that a "no shit Sherlock" conclusion. They were a young team, hell Sony didn't even aquire them until after their success with the Crash Bandicoot games in 2001. Also the guys running the show were a totally different team. If they kept making Way of the Warrior they wouldn't even exist anymore.

Thats like saying "thanks to Sony budget Namco went from making Splatter house 2 to making Tekken 7".

Also i dont think budget was ever a problem for japanese developers, i just think they dont know how to utilize their tech like western studios can. For example Tekken 7 runs on Unreal 4 engine. Mortal kombat 11 runs on Unreal 3 engine and its 60fps and looks like a whole generation leap over T7. So that bs how its like that so that game can run smooth 60fps is bogus in todays world.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

Concrete genie Is from the Californian based team Pixel Opus. Between the games produced by Siej on Ps4 you can find the 2 Knack games, The Last Guardian, Bloodborne , Deracine, The Playroom, Astrobot Rescue Mission, Everybody'Golf and Everybody's Golf VR, No Heroes allowed! VR, Gravity Rush remastered and Gravity Rush 2 + the remake of Shadow of the Colossus and various PsOne and PSP remasters. These while also producing on Vita the 2 Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, Oreshika and Destiny of Spirits

Thnx great resume mate. Not a bad generation..., like a said and my big complaint, only missing a big new IP of their own, the rumored survival horror or RPG.

 

[Rien]

I don't think this is as catastrophic as people are saying.

It almost never is...

 

[rofif]

Who even is he? It's just a producer. Blur Miyazaki so who cares

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Are you seriously saying that they are making better games than they were 26years ago? Isnt that a "no shit Sherlock" conclusion. They were a young team, hell Sony didn't even aquire them until after their success with the Crash Bandicoot games in 2001. Also the guys running the show were a totally different team. If they kept making Way of the Warrior they wouldn't even exist anymore.

Thats like saying "thanks to Sony budget Namco went from making Splatter house 2 to making Tekken 7".

Also i dont think budget was ever a problem for japanese developers, i just think they dont know how to utilize their tech like western studios can. For example Tekken 7 runs on Unreal 4 engine. Mortal kombat 11 runs on Unreal 3 engine and its 60fps and looks like a whole generation leap over T7. So that bs how its like that so that game can run smooth 60fps is bogus in todays world.

True, but I meant with Naughty Dog, it was progression and they gradually improved as time went on. Of course that can go for any studio. The same can be said for a up and coming small Japanese studio as well especially if Sony sees potential and really invests long term into them.

Sony occasionally goes around looking for smaller studios to build up and invest into, so I think with bigger budgets and better architecture/software familiarity, Japanese developers can probably create games that look more on par with the biggest Western studios. To my knowledge, I don’t think most Japanese studios get a budget on par with most Western studios, but I could be absolutely wrong.

Yes, MK11 despite being on UE3 is visually more impressive than T7 and I also think Western developers are more familiar with UE compared to Japanese, but from what I’ve seen and heard, 3D fighters are apparently much harder to create. That’s why they are extremely rare. Tekken 7 to my knowledge was also created on somewhat of a shoestring budget as well compared to MK11, so I’m sure that contributed to things as well. With a bigger budget and more familiarity, T7 might of been closer to MK11 graphically.

 

[Perrott]

Aren’t those third party SquareEnix games timed exclusive though? Didn’t even Microsoft do a similar tactic with next generation Yakuza?

Why not invest some of that money into some internal, first party studios creating original high profile, AAA, big to medium budget Japanese games instead of paying all that money to keep third party games exclusive to your platform temporarily? Imo, I feel if Sony still really saw value in Japanese games, they would do this more often.

Because Sony doesn't need a Final Fantasy of their own, what they need is to keep the 80% users that bought FFXV on PS4 instead of Xbox One on their ecosystem, while also trying to make the remaining 20% buy a PS5 because it is the only console where FFXVI it's going to be available on during the first year after launch.

It's not about having an exclusive, but about taking titles away from Microsoft's platform and making PS5 a more atractive console as a result of that. They did this A LOT during the PS2 era and it worked wonders for them back then.

 

[reptilex]

That's GREAT news! Sony has the biggest number of preorder for the PS5 so it'll be an assured success! Jim Ryan is doing everything right so they're clearly winning and we should be happy.

Sony has sold, foreclosed and lost lots of studios, directors and franchises, and this is GOOD news for you! And other stories of why you should eat my shit because I'm telling you this is good for your health.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Because Sony doesn't need a Final Fantasy of their own, what they need is to keep the 80% users that bought FFXV on PS4 instead of Xbox One on their ecosystem, while also trying to make the remaining 20% buy a PS5 because it is the only console where FFXVI it's going to be available on during the first year after launch.

It's not about having an exclusive, but about taking titles away from Microsoft's platform and making PS5 a more atractive console as a result of that. They did this A LOT during the PS2 era and it worked wonders for them back then.

That I understand, but when Sony says that Japan is still important to them, I guess I was under the impression that meant more internal Japanese games from within instead of buying up third party timed exclusives. Everyone keeps talking about Japan Studio hasn’t put out much good content and that’s why I say why not create a few new Japanese studios to help fill the void? Then again, their strategy is apparently working and the majority of PlayStation owners are happy, so who am I to criticize? Gotta go where they money is.

 

[Perrott]

That I understand, but when Sony says that Japan is still important to them, I guess I was under the impression that meant more internal Japanese games from within instead of buying up third party timed exclusives. Everyone keeps talking about Japan Studio hasn’t put out much good content and that’s why I say why not create a few new Japanese studios to help fill the void? Then again, their strategy is apparently working and the majority of PlayStation owners are happy, so who am I to criticize? Gotta go where they money is.

When they say that Japan is still important to them, I read it as "yes, we'll have Final Fantasy XVI, FF7R Part II, Kingdom Hearts 4, MH World 2, Persona 6, Project Re Fantasy, Granblue Fantasy ReLink, the next Hideo Kojima title, etc", all of which would probably have some sort of exclusivity (full exclusive, console exclusive or timed exclusive) to PlayStation systems; because if instead of that, we read Sony's statements as "we will give Japan Studio more resources than ever to make whatever games they wanna make", we will probably end up with games that do better in the West anyways, which is what has happened with Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, the ICO games (ICO, SOTC, TLG), Puppeteer, Astro Bot, etc, or games that are not inherently targeted towards Japanese audiences like LocoRoco, Patapon, Ape Escape, Echochrome, Gravity Rush, Deráciné, etc.

So what's the point in investing in Japan Studio as a way to strengthen PS5 sales in Japan when their games are usually better received by overseas audiences than Japanese gamers?

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

When they say that Japan is still important to them, I read it as "yes, we'll have Final Fantasy XVI, FF7R Part II, Kingdom Hearts 4, MH World 2, Persona 6, Project Re Fantasy, Granblue Fantasy ReLink, the next Hideo Kojima title, etc", all of which would probably have some sort of exclusivity (full exclusive, console exclusive or timed exclusive) to PlayStation systems; because if instead of that, we read Sony's statements as "we will give Japan Studio more resources than ever to make whatever games they wanna make", we will probably end up with games that do better in the West anyways, which is what has happened with Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, the ICO games (ICO, SOTC, TLG), Puppeteer, Astro Bot, etc, or games that are not inherently targeted towards Japanese audiences like LocoRoco, Patapon, Ape Escape, Echochrome, Gravity Rush, Deráciné, etc.

So what's the point in investing in Japan Studio as a way to strengthen PS5 sales in Japan when their games are usually better received by overseas audiences than Japanese gamers?

Good points, but what I mean is create more Japanese studios in addition to Japan Studio for a worldwide audience. Concentrating on Japan alone wouldn’t make sense financially obviously especially since consoles are practically dead over there.

Bottom line is, I think it would be interesting to see more high profile Japanese content come from Sony in addition to Japanese third party games especially with Sony’s eye for talent. Death Stranding for example was a good start imo. Then again, unfortunately I know the industry has shifted and preferences or tastes have changed, so I’m probably in the minority.